Pat K. is the owner of Superior Shooters Supply in Superior, Wisconsin.
When the pandemic hit and the ammunition drought began, Pat watched her shelves go bare in ways she had not experienced in decades.
Hunters couldn’t find basic calibers like .30-30 or .243 for deer season.
Pat had to ration ammunition to a single box per customer just to keep some inventory for customers who truly needed it.
Then customers started asking about alternative food sources.
What could they trap or eat from the wild if the supply chain fully collapsed?
The problem is that some animals people assume are safe to eat in the wild can do more harm than skipping a meal.
What Pat found out was that when you become desperate, you tend to grab at the obvious fixes, even when those fixes are actually dangerous.
That’s why knowing which animals to eat and which to leave alone can be the difference between feeding or poisoning yourself when you’re trying to survive.
What animals should you walk away from?
Raw squirrels:
Squirrels are everywhere, which makes them seem like an easy target.
But they carry parasites, bacteria, and can even transmit Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare brain illness caused by prion proteins.
Plus, a single 3-ounce serving of squirrel contains roughly 102 calories.
So, you will likely burn more calories chasing it than you’ll gain from eating it.
Unless you have zero other options, walk away from them.
Bats:
Bats carry more diseases than nearly any other animal.
Rabies, Ebola, Marburg virus, and dozens of other zoonotic infections live in bat populations.
Simply handling a bat can be dangerous.
A scratch or bite can transmit infections that are fatal without treatment, and in a wilderness scenario, treatment is not coming.
Geese and waterfowl:
Wild geese carry toxoplasmosis, cryptosporidium, and giardia.
These parasites can cause severe diarrhea, which leads to dehydration, which can kill you faster than hunger in a survival situation.
People with weakened immune systems from extended survival conditions are especially vulnerable.
If you must eat waterfowl, cook it thoroughly.
But if you have other options, choose those.
Cats:
Feral cats carry toxoplasmosis and parasites like roundworms and hookworms.
These organisms prevent your body from absorbing nutrients from food, which is devastating when you’re already operating on restricted rations.
Toxoplasmosis can cause cysts in your brain tissue or muscles.
If they rupture, you can go blind or suffer severe internal damage.
Drawbacks to being too selective about wild food:
Calorie deficit:
Being overly cautious about what you eat can lead to starvation just as surely as eating the wrong thing.
In a true emergency, you need to balance risk against the immediate need for calories.
Knowledge gaps:
Most people don’t know enough about wild animal preparation to cook unfamiliar meat safely.
Without the right tools, training, and conditions, even normally edible animals become dangerous.
Psychological pressure:
Hunger impairs judgment.
After three or four days without food, your brain will start telling you to eat whatever is in front of you.
Having this knowledge beforehand helps you resist bad decisions when the pressure is at its worst.
If you’re considering how to prepare for a food-sourcing emergency, these are your top priorities:
Priority 1: Build a shelf-stable food reserve first
The safest food is the stuff you already have on your shelf.
Rice, beans, canned proteins, and freeze-dried meals give you weeks of nutrition without any hunting or trapping risk.
Priority 2: Learn to identify edible plants and safe game
Deer, elk, wild turkey, and freshwater fish from clean sources are far safer protein options than squirrels, rabbits, or bats.
Study field guides for your region and practice identification before you need it.
Priority 3: Carry a compact fishing kit and snare wire
A few hooks, line, and snare wire weigh almost nothing and can secure protein from safe sources.
Fish from flowing streams and rivers are generally cleaner than pond-dwelling bottom feeders.
When the shelves go empty and the supply trucks stop rolling, your body is your most important piece of gear.
Feed it the right fuel and it will carry you through anything.
But, feed it the wrong fuel and it will break down and crumble when you need it most.
